PLAYER INFORMATION
Name: September
Preferred pronoun(s): He/him
Contact: PM or planetbefall
Permissions: Here

CHARACTER INFORMATION
Name: Ainchase Ishmael
Canon: Elsword
Canon point: Post-Chapter 9, after the El Search Party defeats Berthe and closes the portal to the Demon Realm. He will be from his 3rd job path.
Age: This is kind of complicated. He was created by a goddess and sent down to earth, but then was immediately blasted into another dimension where time passes weirdly. When he next returns to the world, 500+ years have passed. Three years have elapsed between that point in time and his current canon point, so he can either be 3 years old, or 500+ years old. He appears 21 years old, though.

History: Each character in Elsword has 3 potential endings, all of which are equally canon. Colloquially they are called the character's 1st, 2nd and 3rd job paths and explore different personality traits.

➛ World Info
➛ Story transcript with summaries (up to Feita)

Ainchase Ishmael was created by the Goddess Ishmael to restore the power of El. When the El exploded into tiny shards, he fell through a dimensional gap created by the explosion. He was only able to escape the realm of chaos after some time and joins the main party. However, the scar left on his body from his experience in Henir's realm turns into a corrupting infection. Ain tried using an El-powered machine to remove the dark energy, but it feeds on his unease and only grows stronger.

Ain carries on with the mission alongside the other characters but as he continues to use his power, the chaos and the corruption further corrodes his body. He endures the agony but only to continue his mission. Later, Ain heads to Feita to receive answers from the Goddess but upon arrival he was overwhelmed by the presence of demonic energy and the sheer number of demons surrounding the area. Ain is unshaken and charges to battle, believing that he would be saved if he reached Feita's temple. However, the temple is in ruins and the Goddess is wholly absent. He then has a mental breakdown and surrenders himself to the corruption, turning into an eldritch entity over time.


Personality:

➣ Dedicated

Ain was created to serve. His identity is closely linked to his given purpose, and he prioritizes it above all else, including his own life. It is his belief in his duty that sustains him and allows him to endure the trials that he has experienced since coming to earth. Despite not receiving any instruction from Ishmael after departing heaven, he still stubbornly clings to his interpretation of her words. As long as he is able to believe in a cause and take it as his purpose, he would have the same persistence for it. He is capable of regaining all of the power that he lost in the void and ascend to the level of a lesser deity through his faith, exemplified by his ascension in his 1st job path. He has abandoned his duty to Ishmael in his 3rd job path, but it also opens up the opportunity for him to pledge his loyalty to another cause and the potential for him to show a similar level of dedication.

➣ Logical

Amongst the party, Ain plays the role of minder. Due to his nature as a celestial, he is somewhat detached from his emotions and thus acts in a mostly logical manner, contrasting him with the rest of the cast who can be hotheaded and emotional. He always has his mind on the task at hand and isn't afraid to chide people who make disadvantageous decisions by being swayed by their heart. However, this also doubles as partly a weakness, as he finds it hard to empathize with others. He is often frustrated when the party goes off on sidequests, as he considers them a waste of time. When approaching tasks given to him, he starts by gathering observations then trying to reason out a solution. Thus he is also stronger amongst combat as his quick reasoning lets him adapt to changing conditions. He then passes on the knowledge that he's learned to the rest of the party. While not a strategist, he is capable of playing the role to some extent.

➣ Potential

Ain is quite young for an immortal, having only experienced the physical world for three years. There is still a lot that he doesn't know about nor have had the chance to form opinions of. His experience in the 3rd job path has released him from his stubborn adherence to Ishmael's teachings, and at the current canon point he has not yet become an emissary of the void, so there is potential for changes to his outlook. He is without a cause to devote himself to, and seeking somewhere he can belong as well as people who will treat him kindly. His willingness to learn new skills and work towards a goal will also help in his development both in terms of capability and also in emotional maturity.

➣ Inexperienced

Because Ain's existential clause makes people forget him after he returns to his original form, he lacks object permanence in others' minds. As a result he gets away with a lot of things that would otherwise have made working with him difficult. He doesn't bother learning people's names or how to speak with tact because humans would forget all of it as soon as he stops manifesting. Essentially, it is a cheat button that nullifies all faux pas that happens in his interaction with people. When this button is taken away (e.g. in the game setting), he will be heavily disadvantaged as he does not really know how to speak with others in a sustainable way.

He is easily mistaken as one-note or arrogant by others due to his attitude, because he neglects to (or cannot) tell people about his true intentions. His cageyness is noted later on in canon by Lu, who is the first person to suspect that he is hiding something. Ultimately he is often misunderstood by others when he tries to advise them simply because he points out perceived flaws bluntly and isn't aware of sugarcoating, or the possibility that he might be wrong.

His inexperience also extends to caring for himself such as eating and healthy sleep patterns. While this is ameliorated by his natural drive to learn and improve, he starts off at a very bare-bones position, and will have difficulty adjusting to his new existence unless there are people to advise or teach him.

➣ Lonely

Ain lacks concrete bonds with other people. He is not remembered by others who care for him on a basic level of 'someone who travels with us', and does not have any friendships except with Elsword, who is able to retain memories of him better than the rest. As he was created with emotional capacity but not the experience or knowledge of how to handle it, he craves social interaction like most people but restrains himself from acting on that wish even at a cost to his own mental well-being. Due to Ishmael forbidding him from spending too much time with humans, he is often left watching from afar when the party does a group activity together. There is the conflict of what he wants and what he is duty-bound to do, and he often chooses to neglect his feelings for the sake of his mission. As a result there is a lot of pent-up negativity and stress that he carries around, which contributed greatly to his descent into despair. Since he is unable to vent it in a healthy manner, the stress will eventually impact his ability to function coherently.

➣ Self-destructive

The void taint that Ain receives also has a side effect of inducing insanity onto its recipients. Ain is able to handle it due to his nature as a 'vessel' for divine will, so that the mind-melting nature of the void is at first counteracted by Ishmael's blessing. However, the infection is made stronger by his negative emotions and he loses the protection that the goddess gave to him. Slowly he becomes affected by 'seeing into the void' and becoming nihilistic via Lovecraft style mental pollution. An angel without their patron's love has little reason to live, and he is doubtful of his self-worth in his current state. Thus he has little qualms about entering dangerous situations, as he does not value his existence highly. He is likely to retain this attitude even when humanized and needs to learn that he is a lot easier to kill after the change.

➣ Silent

This is a trait specific to Ain in this particular route. One of the side effects of void corruption is that it dulls the senses (particularly heat/touch and pain) of the victim, thus Ain is not very talkative or responsive. Coupled with his mental state it makes him seem empty or doll-like, hindering communication with others. Luckily this can be ameliorated with enough patience on the other person's part. Removing the corruption will also let him experience things properly again. There might be an adjustment period but it is possible to go back to a semblance of normalcy.

Powers/abilities:

➣ Angel

Ain is a celestial (or angel). His true form is an orb of light, but he also has a human vessel to enable him to interact with his surroundings. Much like Fate/ Servants, he's able to survive without sleep or food and has higher endurance than most humans. However, he still needs time to rest and recover if he takes too much damage. One thing about his human form is that it masks his nature as an angel even to magic-sensitive people or demons. Most of the crew thinks he's a human, albeit a weird one.

He can take on a form closer to his true angelic nature through Spiritualism. His magic will become stronger, and he will be able to fly/levitate. His appearance will also change.

Manifesting in the real world enables him to be remembered by those around him. Once he demanifests, they will forget that he existed. It's a complicated clause that was made to explain how Ain was effectively retconned into the plot, so I'll nerf it in the game setting.

After falling into Henir's domain, Ain became corrupted by the void's chaos. He has lost most of his ability to feel heat/cold and pain from external injury, as well as most of his emotional responses. The corruption causes him physical pain (pretty much the only pain he can feel) and gives him constant feelings of fragmentation and dissociation. The taint also appears on his physical body, manifesting as circuit patterns on his skin and a hole in his chest. Eventually it will change his form to a different one but that requires a canon update.

➣ Creation Magic

Creation magic allows him to summon projected weapons such as swords, spears and daggers. These can be thrown at the enemy or used as tools (for example, a midair platform to jump on). These projections used to be green/blue, but have now changed to a black/green colour scheme to reflect his attunement to the void. He can even project afterimages of himself to multiply attacks with Unlimited Blade Works, but this costs significantly more energy and is used sparingly.

Void projections have more 'jagged edges' than the elegant form of his original divine spears. Some can even inflict deep wounds and other injuries.

➣ Cycle Magic

Cycle magic are related to the natural mana of the earth rather than divine magic. They can be used to fire 'energy bullets' aspected to various natural elements such as fire, ice, and wind. However, Henir's taint prevents him from using this easily.

➣ Henir

As a 'fallen angel', Ain gains a conection to Henir's realm, the primordial chaos that serves as the 'sea of origin' surrounding the other worlds. Henir's chaos was used as a raw material to create the physical world and the demon realm, so it is not evil or malignant in its nature. Henir represents extinction and the infinite edge of time, and Ain now possesses the ability to act as a 'key' to open gates into Henir's realm. Some of his skills involve temporarily rupturing space and flooding the surrounding area with concentrated entropy. It involves a lot of eyes.

Henir's chaos by itself can corrupt living beings and turn them into monstrosities, and exposure to the chaos aura (for living beings, not Ain) will result in heightened emotions, loss of reason, the compulsion to destroy everything around them, and permanent physical warping depending on the length and concentration of exposure. Ain himself has reached about 80% corruption, and further exposure now benefits him instead. Henir's aura strengthens him if he's in its immediate vicinity. This can come from his own gates, or from other gates that have similar properties. By applying Henir's aura to someone else, he is able to weaken their mental stability. This can range from inflicting temporary confusion to melting their minds. It also involves a lot of eyes.

Questions:

✽ What does your character consider to be their top three strengths?

Ain was very faithful to his Goddess, and he considered his determination a great strength. He has been able to endure a lot of dangers and loneliness by virtue of his faith. He also has skills in combat, which he takes as a strength that enable shim to eliminate obstacles. However, these are 'past strengths', since after his corruption, he no longer considers himself worthy of serving the goddess and would only cite his ability to survive as a strength. He really doesn't have good self-esteem.

✽ What do others consider to be your character's greatest weakness?

Ain is stubborn and unable to understand others' feelings, which has hampered him cooperating with others. After accepting his void corruption, his apathy also becomes a major weakness, as it prompts him to be reckless and lack motivation to pursue things. However, they stem from his self-imposed isolation and his barriers can be broken down over time.

✽ What are your character's three greatest fears?

He fears being unable to fulfil his mission, losing his sense of self, and being forgotten. However, due to the void taint and his own apathy, these aren't crippling fears but rather consequences that he would not want to face.

✽ What would your character choose for a last meal?

Ain does not eat, so he wouldn't need one...

✽ Has your character ever killed? If so, how did that affect them? If not, how would it affect them?

Yes. He has killed demons (which are also sentient people from a different realm) by the hundreds. It does not affect him, because it was part of his duty to put down any opposition to the goddess. He would not hesitate to kill if it was necessary.

✽ If your character was given one selfish wish (eg. must be applied to themselves and not affect others), what would it be?

He would wish to permanently die, so that he would be put out of his misery. As an angel, his ability to fulfil his duty is his biggest reason for existence, and a failure for that would mean that he did not have a reason to live. He also cannot commit suicide, so he's never been able to end his own existence and continues living mindlessly.

Sample: Here